Day 40- In Seward

Welcome to Seward, Alaska. The weather is typical Pacific Northwest, low clouds with occasional light rain. The trouble is the temperature is only about 50 so if you get wet, you’re cold in minutes. Everywhere you go, they recommend you dress in layers with synthetic materials and bring a rain jacket. I guess we’ll use today to sort things out for the next few days. I’ve checked the weather from 3 different locations and they all vary. Some say Tuesday is gonna be okay while others have said Thursday will be the better day. So, I spent the morning doing laundry while Carl solves a couple of minor issues with our house on wheels. The cost of doing laundry during our trip has varied a great deal. In most places it’s been $2.00 to wash and $2.00 to dry but in British Columbia, they wanted $5.00 for each process. Needless to say the laundry remained dirty until our next stop. Here, the washer and dryer are $1.25 per load and I’m happy to pay that. By the time I return, he’s already eaten lunch. After lunch we head to the Alaska Sealife Center for the afternoon. It’s a great place that specializes in rescue and rehabilitation. Happily, there were very few animals in their facility in need of rehabilitation. The aquarium exhibits were nicely done with lots of interpretive signage for a positive self guided tour. There were lots of hands on stuff for children while maintaining a thought provoking atmosphere for us adults. And we can all use an opportunity to be challenged. And best of all, I managed to get out of the gift shop without spending any money. Carl and I then drove by the commercial pier, checked out the town operated camping area right on the shore ( wish we’d know about that before ). The only grocery store in town of any size is the Safeway and prices, as you might expect, are high. $3.00 for a small head of iceberg lettuce, $1.20 per pound for bananas and $4.50 for a bag of Doritos. Carl wandered over to the Liquor side of the store and found a 6 pack of Alaskan stout made in Juneau with his name on it. After supper, Carl went over to book or passage for tomorrow to the Kenai Fjords National Park. With any luck, I’ll get some nice photos of the glaciers calving. I may even get a chance to see some wildlife. There is a National Park ranger on board who will tell us what we are experiencing. The tour is 7 ½ hours long and we’ve opted for the all you can eat Salmon and Prime Rib buffet during the cruise. Weather permitting, we’ll travel to Aialik Glacier and Holgate Glacier. The course also takes us past several islands and up and down both shorelines of Resurrection Bay. Should be a great day on the water.